Doggie Dementia

Battlebuddy

  About a year ago I posted about my dog seeming to mimic my husband in many of his symptoms. He was shadowing my husband , who was shadowing me. The dog became completely incontinent and also had much anxiety and pacing. 

  The vet today confirmed the Dementia diagnosis . He wanted to put him on Trazadone but had no advice for the incontinence. Poochie was 16 and 1/2 years old. I decided to put him to sleep.  

   I know you all will understand that I had reached my poop limit. I felt his end of life care was taking away from time spent caring for husband. I’m so glad he lived as long as he did but his decline was contributing to my stress levels. 

  One less family member and a quieter house but I’m relieved . 

Joydean

Sorry you had to put your dog down! It’s really a hard thing to do. But you are right, one less family member to clean up poop from. 

Ed1937

I'm sorry you had to do that. Losing a pet is like losing a family member. We've had to do that too, and I know it's stressful.

M1

I’m sorry BB, it’s happened here many times too. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard of a dementia diagnosis in an animal but I believe it. I was discussing the Shackleford discovery today with my kids and remarked that when I was a kid, no one had been to the moon, the Titanic remained lost, no one knew about monarch migration, and no one thought that animals used tool. So much yet to learn.

LadyTexan

I am so sorry BattleBuddy. Losing a faithful friend and family member is so very hard.

toolbeltexpert

So sorry battlebuddy that is a tough thing to do.

JoseyWales

I'm so sorry about your doggie. They're family. It just doesn't seem fair that your household was hit twice with dementia. 

extex

I once owned a Collie that I raised from a pup and he grew up with my kids. A true family member.  After my kids were grown and gone and after the demise of my first wife, Big Ben, now at age 16-17, mostly just laid by the back patio doors and slept, like 24/7. He would stand up and walk to his bowl on the patio and sometimes eat a few bites of food.  Then out by the big oak tree to pee then back to his spot inside.  One day he went out to pee then began walking in circles around the tree until he was so exhausted that he could hardly make it back into the house.  He continued to do this repeatedly for a week. It was now time to take him to the vet.  After my explanation of his symptoms and a thorough exam the vet diagnosed Ben with Doggie dementia.  Very old animals do develop a form of Alzheimer’s.  Ben was put down that day and now enjoys his new home under the big oak tree.

Iris L.

I'm sorry about the loss of your dog, Battlebuddy.  

Warren Eckstein on The Pet Show radio show talks about doggie dementia.  My 19 year old cat started walking in circles and I thought she had dementia, but it turns out that she had gone blind.  She still goes in circles, but she can find the litter box and the water bowl and her food by scent.  She can even find the scratching post.  She sleeps most of the time.  She's hanging in.

Iris

abc123

I'm sorry about the loss of your pet. You did the right thing.

Walking in circles and a loss of balance could be a sign of vestibular disease or old dog syndrome.

Joe C.

I am so sorry to here of the loss of your 4 legged family member. They are such an important part of our families and it leaves a big hole when they are gone.

David J

Having just gone through the loss of my dog, I feel for you. I’ve gone through it many times, but this time, with my wife in MCF, the house was very quiet and lonely without her. I know the cancer was going to take her, and she was suffering, so I put her down. I am so glad my wife was already in the MCF. It would have broken me to tell her.

Beachfan

We had Molly, an Irish “settler”, as per the kids, many years ago.  She developed cancer and had to be put down when the kids were still in grade school.  Mike, the “middle child” still has her collar at age 45.  Some things we never get over.

Buggsroo

My grandmother had a Siamese that had dementia. She wanted her put down immediately, however my kindhearted mother took her home with us. She thought my brother was my uncle and she became his cat. She had an ear splitting meow that would make one jump. My father’s film business was run from our kitchen table and she would yowl if he was on the phone. When people asked what was that awful sound, my dad would calmly tell them it was his secretary.

She lasted about two years with us sometimes having accidents, walking in circles etc. but we all loved her. My condolences on your loss.

RanchersWife

I had no idea dogs could get dementia until last year. Barky was one of the the best livestock guardian dogs we had (except for Poochie. Poochie was the best,) Anyway, Barky guarded the sheep. Our dogs don’t typically switch herds. They pick a type of animal and guard that herd. We have one that likes to roam and will hang with both herds but that’s not typical. One day we found 8 baby goats dead in the goat nursery. The next day we caught Barky crunching a baby goat. There were 20 dead baby goats that day. We can only assume it was dementia and never would have believed it of Barky! He had worked on the ranch for 13 years. That was a sad and expensive day for us. We also were left short handed with the sheep so probably had lamb losses too.